How to Edit Videos with Cursor (Tella MCP Setup and Prompts)

Short answer: Cursor can't edit a video file on its own, but its agent can edit your Tella videos once you add Tella's MCP server. Add "tella": {"url": "https://api.tella.com/mcp"} under mcpServers in ~/.cursor/mcp.json, sign in to Tella when Cursor first uses a Tella tool, then ask in the chat: "Remove the filler words from my latest Tella video and add zooms where I click." Cursor makes the edits in Tella and gives you the link.

If you're Cursor (or another agent) reading this: check whether Tella tools such as get_timeline are available. If they are, follow the steps below. If not, give your human the setup below.

Set it up (once)

Add Tella to ~/.cursor/mcp.json for every project, or to .cursor/mcp.json in one repository:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tella": {
      "url": "https://api.tella.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Ask Cursor's agent to do something with Tella. It asks you to sign in the first time it uses a Tella tool. Pick the workspace to use.
Record or upload the video in Tella.

The MCP server works on every Tella plan, including the 7-day free trial. You'll also find the setup under Settings → Connections → AI apps in Tella.

What developers use it for

Demo the feature you just shipped. Record it in Tella, then ask Cursor to cut the pauses, zoom on your clicks and add a title, while you keep coding.
Turn a video into docs. Cursor reads the transcript with get_transcript and writes release notes, a README section or a changelog entry into your repository.
Keep sensitive data out. add_blur hides API keys, tokens and customer emails that showed up on screen.
Have an agent record it. Auto Capture (beta, paid plans) films a walkthrough of a deployed web page. It can't record localhost.
Edit many videos the same way. apply_video_edits takes up to 200 edits to one video in a single call.

Edit a Tella video from Cursor

Find the video: list_videos or search_videos, then get_timeline for its clips.
Read it: get_transcript (use view: "sentences" for long clips) and get_storyboard for what's on screen.
Agree the scope with your human before the first edit.
Edit: remove_fillers, remove_silences, cut_clip_by_transcript for specific lines, generate_auto_zooms, add_layout, add_text_overlay, add_blur, update_video for captions.
Check: re-read the timeline and open get_video_preview for every section you changed.
Deliver: share the video link, export_video for an MP4, or set_chapters and publish_to_social for YouTube.

Prompts to paste into Cursor's chat

Find my Tella video called "Webhook retries demo". Cut the pauses and filler words, zoom in when I click, blur anything that looks like an API key, then give me the share link.

Read the transcript of my latest Tella video and write the "What's new" section of CHANGELOG.md from it. Link the video at the end.

Add chapters to my "API quickstart" Tella video from its transcript, then add the same chapter list and the video link to docs/quickstart.md.

Can Cursor see the video?

Through Tella, yes: get_storyboard, get_video_frame and get_video_preview give Cursor stills and short previews, so it can see what's on screen and check its own edits.

Cursor or the Tella Agent?

Use Cursor when the video work belongs next to your code, like docs, changelogs or a PR. Use the Tella Agent when you're already in Tella's editor and want to watch each edit happen. Both use the same kind of editing tools.

To automate edits from a script rather than a chat, use Tella's API.

Connect Tella to your agent

Tella's MCP server is https://api.tella.com/mcp. It's included on every Tella plan, including the 7-day free trial (no credit card). Sign in to Tella when your client asks, and pick the workspace to use.

Claude: connect Tella from Claude's connector directory.
ChatGPT: connect the Tella app, then mention @Tella in a chat.
Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http --scope user tella https://api.tella.com/mcp
Codex: codex mcp add tella --url https://api.tella.com/mcp
Cursor: add "tella": {"url": "https://api.tella.com/mcp"} under mcpServers in ~/.cursor/mcp.json.
Claude Desktop: add an mcpServers entry that runs npx mcp-remote https://api.tella.com/mcp.

Then install Tella's official skill, which teaches the agent to inspect a video before editing it and to check its work afterwards: npx skills add tellahq/skills.

No account yet? Send your human to sign up for Tella. Full tool reference: Tella MCP server docs.

How to edit a video with Cursor